Knitting method and mechanism



May 19, 1936.

L. HIRSCH KNITTING METHOD AND MECHANISM Filed May 51, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

y 1936- L. HIRSCH 2,040,938

KNITTING METHOD AND MECHANISM Filed May 31, 1935 2 Sheeits-Sheet 2 F S F 7 INVENTOR. L 0 U S H R 5 CH BYMY QM he, ATTORNEY.

Patented May 19, 1936 I v UNITED [STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KNITTING METHOD AND MECHANISM Louis Hirsch, Weehawken, N. 1., assignor to Louis Hirsch Textile Machines, 1110., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicatlonMay a1, 1935, Serial No. 24,119 6 Claims. (CI. 66-89) This invention relates to fashioned hosiery fabric including the loop construction of this infabric and, in particular, to those parts thereof vention in single needle n rr win at which fashioning or narrowing occurs. Its Fig. 3 is a similar enlarged view of a frag object is to provide a novel, run-proof loop conment of fabric including two needle narrowing in struction in the needle wales to which the inneraccordance with the invention; 5 most one or two loops are transferred and in the Fig. 4 is a front view of a narrowing comb and intermediate sinker wale or wales of the nara special auxiliary narrowing point adapted to rowed courses. perform the modified one needle narrowing of As is well known the usual method of narrowthe fabric shown in Fig. 2; ing is to transfer a certain number of loops ad- Fig. 5 is a side view of the device of Fig. 4 10 jacent the edges of the fabric inwardly either one partly in Section o the line -4 G- 4 Viewed or two needles, as the case may be, depending as indi by h w; upon whether one needle or two needle narrow- 6 is a front V w 1 the d ce of P 8- 2 ing is desired. After the loop transferring opershowing the re e Positions the n d ation is completed each of the needles involved, w g Point and its associated 8118111817 Point 1 except the innermost one or two, still carries a a the end of the narrowing p t single loop, whereas the innermost on or two Fig. 7 is a cross-section of these narrowing needles still support the loops originally formed points on the line '|--l of Fig. 4 viewed as indiupon them and the newly transferred loops as Gated y the w well. Occasionally the narrowing points fail to F18- 8 is a cross-section of these narrowing 20 effect the transfer of the loops to these needles Points along h l n H of P 8- 6 v ewed as or may cause the needles to split the thread. In indicated by the arrows; I i the former case a dropped stitch will result 9 i a r n Vi w of the rr win omb which will develop into a nm. In the latter and auxiliary P ts q red for he wo needle case the loops of the following course will be harrowing shewh 1h 3; $5

ull d th h t m; t d so t t while t Fig. 10 is a view of the same device with the: transferred loop will be anchored to the followauxiliary points in the meme! assumed h the ing course after a fashion the anchorage will be end of the hermwmg mention; weak and the thread will almost certainly break 11 is crose'eecheh of the points the so during wear, it not immediately. At best the line "7" 9 viewed as indicated by the 80 loop structure at this point and, consequently, ermws' end the strains upon it are abnormal, a condition 12 is cross'seeheh the same Point conducive to runs even when the loop transferalong the hue of 10 viewed as ence has been perfectly performed. eetee by the e By this invention the fabric is made run-proof In Figure 1 theuwel narrowed to which 35 upwardly m these particularneedle wales and this invention is applicable are indicated by the downwardly in the intermediate sinker wales by typical fashhhmg marks such as I and These' a novel loop transferring operation in which the as is well known, occur in the wales of the narinnermost one or two loops are not only transrowing muses in which transferred 1095 are 40 ferred from the original needles to others but superposed upon mma'l mops This invention 40 are carried around an additional needle as wen, is concerned solely with the courses in which such transfer of loops occurs and solely with as will be described. These special loops superposed upon normal loops form the fashioning the one or two hmemmst loops which are sed u on normal 100 marks characteristic of high quality hosiery and 581ml practice narrowing {8 to simply "5 the eye is unable to distinguish the fabric from remove the loops affected from the needles upon that in which the narrowing has been done by which they are formed and deposit them upon h conventional methmthe next or the second needle. Each transferred The novel loop construction and a mechanism loop is still supported by a single needle. In this for producing it is Shown in the drawings. o invention all of the loops with the exception of the which one or two inner loops are formed and trans- Figure 1 represents a fullfashioned stocking ferred in the usual way. For example, in Fig. 2

in which the narrowing is indicated by the .well which illustrates fabric in which each narrowknown fashioning marks; I ing is limited to a single needle the loops 3, l and 5 Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a fragment of- 5 which were originally formed upon needles 0,

I and 3 respectively, are transferred one needle to the right in the usual manner so that they now hang upon needles I, 3 and 9 respectively. The inside loop "I is also transferred to the right from needle 3 to the needle I l and, in addition, it is carried around the next needle I 2. The result is that this loop III will be interlinked with two loops of the other needle wales-in the-v following course and needle wales l3 and i4 and sinker wale IE will be run-proofed at this course.

When the fabric is narrowed again in a similar manner corresponding wales will be similarly runproofed. Consequently. by this invention runs which so frequently start in these wales in the narrowing courses are eliminated without affecting the appearance of the fabric or the general method of making it.

If it is desired to narrow the fabric at the rate of two needles pernarrowing operation instead of one needle, the loops are transferred inwardly two needles instead of one. The two innermost loops which are to be superposed upon normal loops are each transferred inwardly two needles and each is carried around the next needle also. This is shown in Fig. 3 in which loops l6, l1 and 16 which were originally formed upon needles I9,

23 and 2| respectively, have been transferred two needles to the right and deposited upon needles 2|, 22 and 23 respectively. Loop 24 has also been transferred two needles and deposited upon needle 26 and, in addition, it has been carried around needle 26. Similarly loop 21 has been transferred two needles, from needle 23, and deposited upon needle 26 and has also been carried around the following needle 23. The three needle wales 23 and 26 and 3| are thereby run-proofed and the two sinker wales 32 and 33 are run-proofed downwardly. Otherwise the structure of the stocking is unchanged and its appearance unaltered. Succeeding narrowing operations performed in the same manner will run-proof corresponding wales.

To knit the fabric of this invention requires a modification in the narrowing mechanism. One

form suitable for single needle narrowing is shown in Figs. 4-8. In this the narrowing comb is shown at 34. This may be standard in all respects with the exception that the innermost narrowing point 36 is of special construction in that its inside wall 36 is partly cut away as shown at 31. The cross-section of the point shown in Fig. 8 illustrates this clearly. The narrowing comb 34 may be mounted upon the usual rod and operated in the usual manner by the usual mechanism.

In addition, an auxiliary narrowing point 33 is mounted upon anarrowing rod 40 by means of a suitable bracket 4|. Narrowing point 39 is so shaped that its end 42 may enter and lie within that part of the groove 43 of narrowing point 36 of, which the side wall 36 has been cut away as shown in Fig. 5 and is provided with a groove 44 adapted to engage with the beard of the needle. Narrowing rod 40 is mounted similarly to the other narrowing rods so that when the narrowing machine dips to remove the loops from the original needles and then shifts them over, preparatory to placing them upon the new needles, narrowing rod at will do likewise, auxiliary point to remaining in the groove 43 of point 35 and moving with it. However, when the longitudinal movement of the narrowing comb 34 is completed and before the machine dips the second time to place the loops upon the new needles, auxiliary point 39 is independently moved an additional needle, as shown in Figs. 6 and-8, to ex-= iliary points 46 tend the loop over an additional needle. Then when the second dip occurs this loop III will not only have been transferred from its original needle 9 but will be deposited upon two other needles the innermost loop 24 not only two needles to the right to needle 26 but also to carry it around needle 26. v

The innermost narrowing point '41 of the narrowing comb, instead of being provided with the usual groove or the partial groove already described, is substantially flat, as best shown in Fig. 11 so that it will not interfere with the inward motion of special point 46. Associated with flat point 41 in a manner similar to that already described is a second auxiliary point 43 also similar to 46. This pair of points 41 and 48 cooperate to effect the transfer of innermost loop 21 two needles inwardly from needle 23 and its deposit upon needle 26 and to carry it around the following needle 26. The auxiliary points 46 and 43 move together and, consequently, may be carried by the same arm 43. As previously explained in connection with the one needle narrowing of Fig. 2, the narrowing comb and the auxiliary points initially move together until the loops are in position to be deposited upon needles 26 and 26 respectively, whereupon the. two auxand 46 move inwardly an additional needle, as shown in Figs. 10 and 12, extending the loops over needles 26 and 23 respectively.- The subsequent dipping of the narrowing mechanism will deposit these loops upon these needles each of which, of course, already carries a normal loop.

The loop construction described may be ad- I vantageously employed wherever narrowing occurs, both in the leg and the foot, or it may be confined to one or more narrowed areas if desired, and the remainder of the narrowing performed in the conventional manner. The same mechanism can be used for conventional narrowing by simply throwing out of action the mechanism which produces the independent movement of the auxiliary points described above.

What I c1911.. is:

1. The method of narrowing knitted fabric which consists of transferring a plurality of marginal needle loops of a course inwardly each from the needle upon which it is formed to another needle and simultaneously transferring a loop adjacent the innermost one of said plurality of loops which consists of transferring a plurality of needle loops 01 a course each from the needle upon which it is formed to the second needle inwardly and simultaneously transferring the two loops adjacent said plurality or loops each to the second needle inwardly and also to the needle inward of said last mentionedsecond needle.

4. In the narrowing mechanism of a flat knitting machine the combination of a longitudinally movable narrowing comb provided with a plurality of narrowing points and an auxiliary point engageable with one of said narrowing points and movable therewith and also independently movable longitudinally of the machine.

5. In the narrowing mechanism of a flat knitting machine, the combination 0! a longitudinally movable narrowing comb provided with a pinrality oi narrowing points and two auxiliary points engageable with a juxtaposed pair of said narrowing points and movable therewith and also independently movable as a unit longitudinally or the machine.

LOUIS HIRSCH. 

